Make your own lightly spicy canned plum sauce for recipes and as a condiment on meats and Asian dishes. It’s super easy, tastes delicious, and makes fun gifts.
In addition to Addictive Tomato Chutney, this canned plum sauce is one of my must-have condiments to have on hand throughout the year. It adds a wonderful flavor to vegetable stir fries and baked (or grilled) chicken and pork.
One of my favorite ways to use it is with faux moo-shu chicken or pork, made easy and accessible by using flour tortillas for the Chinese pancakes. Simply stir-fry cabbage, broccoli and carrots with some thinly sliced meat, add a little sauce made of soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic and ginger at the end of stir-frying, and serve it with the tortillas and this canned plum sauce. Dinner done!
The flavor of this is SO good – I think its way better than the store bought stuff. And it’s really easy to make – it’s a good beginner canning recipe. It’s also a lot cheaper than the small little bottles in stores, especially if you grow or can find the plums for free.
Make Canned Plum Sauce
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I like to use Italian plums for 2 reasons:
- They are drier so take less time to thicken and
- They grow in abundance around here, so I can usually find them for free (and if you have access to Italian plums, they make the BEST dried plums ever – definitely not your mother’s prunes!)
But I have made this with regular plums and other than being a lighter color and taking a bit longer to cook, it was just as good. Your sauce will be the color of whatever type plum you use – Italian are dark, so this sauce is, too.
I used to hand chop all the ingredients for this sauce, but when I discovered how easy the food processor made canning tomato chutney and my favorite salsa, I now use the processor for this recipe, too. Simply cut the plums in half, remove the pit, and just throw them in the food processor.
Tip: after many years using a couple of cheap, not great food processors, this is the best price-best quality food processor I use and recommend now.
Use the processor to finely chop the onions, too, if you’d like and then throw these and all the other ingredients in a large heavy-bottomed pot.
Cook for about an hour on low, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the bottom. This plum sauce literally takes just a few minutes to prepare – the rest is just stirring and canning.
After an hour, use an immersion blender to make a smooth sauce, incorporating the skins and onions. Just process for a minute until desired consistency.
Let the plum sauce cook until it’s thick and syrupy – usually about another 45 minutes to an hour.
Tip: it really wants to stick to the bottom as it thickens, so plan on hanging around the kitchen so you’re available to stir every now and then.
Prepare lids, jars, and canner while sauce cooks (here is a list of the essential canning tools I use and love). Read my easy step-by-step canning tutorial here or check out this companion video tutorial if you’re new to canning (both updated with current safety information):
Transfer to clean, warm half-pint jar, leaving 1/4-inch headspace, and attach lids.
Tip: I recommend only stainless steel utensils and canning funnel when dealing with boiling-hot food items – this list contains all the canning supplies I use.
Process for 20 minutes in a boiling water canner, turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes before removing jars. Cool and store for up to 18 months.
(Note: I now use a stainless steel canner with a glass lid and smooth bottom that I recommend to everyone! It can be used on smooth-top ranges and monitoring the boil through the glass is easier and safer, plus you can fit more jars into each batch.)
I think you will love this canned plum sauce as much as I do! Plus it makes terrific gifts. A basket of this with some Asian sauce ingredients (soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, etc.) and a few recipes to use it would be so fun, wouldn’t it?
Click the arrow for the full printable canned plum sauce recipe!
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Wayne Lind says
September 1 at 2:35 pmCan this be frozen in small plastic ball containers?
Thanks sure going to try this even if I have to can.
Wayne
Nakusp, British Columbia
Jami says
September 4 at 12:23 pmOf course! That would be a perfectly good way to preserve this plum sauce.
Tracy says
September 1 at 1:29 pmI made this yesterday and I can’t stop eating it!
★★★★★
Jami says
September 4 at 12:24 pmUh, oh. Thank you for taking a break to comment and let me know. 😉
veronica vatter says
August 11 at 12:16 pmI loved this! Although next time I’ll reduce the dried chili by half. Maybe mine was just really fresh, but wow is it spicy. Delicious, but spicy. My parents may have to take it easy on this stuff.
★★★★★
Jami says
August 12 at 10:22 amI’m glad you liked this, Veronica! And yes, you’ll have to adjust to personal taste for sure. 🙂 FYI: it does tend to mellow as it sits if you were going by the taste right after cooking.
Angela Nylund says
July 29 at 9:41 pmLove this sauce!
★★★★★
Lisa Vollrath says
September 13 at 12:05 pmThank you for the plum sauce recipe! I plan to make a batch today using Italian plums. We have a tree but a bear attacked it this year and didn’t leave us many plums. Luckily, I found somebody nearby who has an Italian plum tree and let me pick a bunch.
Jami says
September 13 at 8:42 pmOh, I wish I had a friend nearby like you! Well, actually I do have a friend who let me pick, but there were so few we don’t have enough and I’m looking for another friend, ha!
Rosemary says
August 1 at 2:24 pmWe have several plum trees we inherited with our property. No plums this year due to a late frost, but I’ll for sure be trying this next year.
Last year for my birthday I bought myself an electric water bath canner and I love it! Doesn’t heat up my kitchen and I can use another pot on my stove if I want. It also has a clear lid so I know better when it’s boiling. Just a fun kitchen toy!
Jami says
August 1 at 5:13 pmThat sounds great, Rosemary – I do want to try one of those one day!
Pamela S says
September 5 at 10:09 amThank you for the wonderful recipe! I made this last weekend and it is so yummy. It sorta reminds me of a barbaque sauce. It is definetly a keeper!
Thanks again for sharing.
Blessings
Jami says
September 5 at 7:58 pmSo glad you liked it, Pamela – thanks for taking the time to let me know. 🙂
Alex says
August 15 at 6:25 pmThanks so much, Jami! Can’t make to make it. 🙂
Alex says
August 14 at 10:23 pmThis recipe looks fantastic!! I have tons of plums from my friend’s tree and am going to get the ingredients tomorrow. I’m wondering if the amount of sugar could be reduced even further? I love very tart flavors. Do you think it would be safe to can with less sugar?
Thanks!
Jami says
August 15 at 3:24 pmYes, you can reduce sugar safely in canned items, Alex, it’s the vinegar in this that you wouldn’t want to mess with. The sugar does help with the color and such, so be aware of that. Hope you enjoy it!
Karen says
July 31 at 1:14 pmHave you ever tried making this recipe in a pressure cooker?
Jami says
July 31 at 4:39 pmNo, Karen – I’ve actually never cooked in a pressure cooker. They kinda scare me. 🙂
Karen says
August 1 at 9:49 pmI did it! And it was awesome!
Jami says
August 3 at 6:26 pmYeah, Karen! We’re still waiting for ours this year.
Queen of String says
September 24 at 7:34 pmI made a half batch and the ginger was really dominant, on asking around, it seems the ball book calls for 1 TBSP of fresh ginger, which would be 1-2 tsp of dried , not 2 TBSP of dried as stated above, for a full batch. I see that others have had good results with the recipe as stated, but personally I cant taste anything but ginger. I would use 1-2 tsp in future. I am glad you posted it though, it’s a great idea for the tons of plums this year.
Jami says
September 26 at 9:28 amIt’s perfectly fine to adjust the dried seasonings to your taste – that’s how we make things our own. I like ginger, so I use a larger amount. 🙂
Pamela in Portland says
September 2 at 12:15 amYay. 🙂 Thanks, Jami!
jo says
September 1 at 9:39 pmI made a mini batch tonight and it was amazing! I have a tree full of Italian plums and tomorrow will tackle canning a double batch! Thanks! (I did add a bit of 5 spice too for kicks!)
Jami says
September 1 at 10:05 pmSounds good – I’ll have to try that with my next batch, Jo!
Pamela in Portland says
August 30 at 10:24 pmJust put up 10 half pints of this amazing plum sauce tonight and then looking back at the recipe, I realized that I left more like a half inch space at the top of each jar not the quarter inch stated. The jars all sealed but wondering if you think there is cause for concern due to this extra space?
Thanks for your amazing recipes, canning tutorial, and all the other great DIY stuff!
Jami says
September 1 at 2:38 pmI’m sure they’re fine if they all sealed, Pamela! The headspace amt. is the optimum for sealing, but as long as they sealed, you’re good to go. 🙂
Kim B says
September 14 at 10:20 amSimmering on my stovetop now and it smells delicious. Now to decide if I should make another batch!
luna says
September 9 at 2:04 pmI just made this and couldn’t stop tasting it along the way. My jars are currently cooling. I did chicken out when it came to the I T of salt so I used 1tsp and it tastes pretty darn good. Was the 1T a mistake?
Thanks
Jami says
September 9 at 7:38 pmNope, it’s a tablespoon. I adapted the recipe from the Ball Blue Book (changing things like spices and sugar only) and the recipe calls for 1 TB. If you’re happy with the teaspoon, that’s great! Glad you like it. 🙂
Annie-Savor This Moment says
October 4 at 3:29 pmYum! I made this ball recipe last month and it’s awesome with pork! I just love canning. It makes me feel like a happy homemaker!
Stopped by from Tasty Tuesday!
Ayana says
October 3 at 10:54 amYamyy! That looks soooo good! Thank-you so much for sharing!
Erica (Irene) says
October 2 at 8:34 pmThis looks so good…..I think I’m going to make this soon while those plums are still around. I made Plum Jam with these plums, it’s a real tasty jam on my blog.
I’m now a follower of yours, love your Blog.